Upstairs in the mansion, an old man with a large belly was lying on the floor with Margot on top of him, with a knee on his back, making it impossible for him to move. Elliot entered the room and saw two blood-covered bodies next to the door. The door, which had electronic locks and opened only with a retina release, was in pieces. Elliot didn't have to think long to know that this was Gustav's doing. If all the evidence wasn't obvious enough, Elliot could see how Margot looked at her little brother full of worry.
Although Margot was used to death, that didn't mean she liked it. Gustav was just a normal person until recently. You could say that Elliot is an abnormal person by anyone without the slightest remorse. Elliot sat down in an armchair next to the man on the floor.
"You bastards! Do you know who I am?! Colonel Lira Del Reys! I'm a damn military man with decorations in the Great Hegemonic War! Do you still dare to invade the home of a war hero?! Where's the respect we deserve for defending your asses?!" The man screamed and cursed with every breath he had.
"Apparently our information is incorrect. We were told that a fat pig, full of money was looking for a cripple who walks around in a suit and is sassy. Haha, look at that, since when did I become sassy?" Elliot said as he crossed his legs.
With a small nod from Elliot, Margot understood that she should let the fat old man go. If it was any other enemy, like the mayor of H-town, Elliot would fear that he had implants and hidden weapons in his body. But this fat old man? The most he would have hidden under all that fat would be even more fat.
"Looking for one... hahaha! So it's you! You did an excellent job surviving an attack by the Gray Militia, and still managed to stay alive for another 3 days! Truly an extraordinary achievement! Let's negotiate. If you leave my house now, I'll pretend you didn't break into my house and kill my toys." The man said with redoubled confidence, knowing who had broken into his house.
In Lira's mind, someone who became a target of the Gray Militia knew how deadly they were. Lira thought that Elliot came to his house in a desperate attempt to stay alive. But little did he know that Elliot had plans to destroy the underworld prison, how could a mere militia intimidate him? Elliot wanted them to find him! Better yet, Elliot wanted to find them! They killed Mk, who had been with Elliot in one of the worst moments of his life, and even tore an arm off Stella. Elliot was on the verge of madness with the amount of anger he felt at this moment.
"I think you've got something wrong here, Colonel." Elliot said as he rhythmically tapped his index finger on his leg.
Lira looked at Elliot in confusion. Elliot already knew who Lira was. He knew that Lira had contact with the Grey Militia, but instead of begging for help, he looked... angry? This was a new situation in Lira's life. Who in his right mind would dare not bow his head to someone with the surname Del Reys? Who in their right mind would not be polite and submissive in front of a war hero?
"Listen well, oh war hero. I don't care about your last name, I don't care about your medals and titles. If it weren't for you being dumb enough to ask for information using your real name, I wouldn't even know who you are. You only have two choices here. The first is to die painlessly and with your body intact. The authorities will think that you died in a robbery, and you will still be remembered as a hero. The second is that I will torture you, I will pull out your fingernails and cut off your fingers. I will cut off your penis, gouge out your eyes, and make you scream like a pig. People will remember you as the unluckiest man in Brezik. What will be your choice?" Elliot said without changing his expression.
"You think you're a fucking god-" Lira didn't get a chance to finish her sentence.
Elliot threw himself on top of Lira, who was getting up off the ground. Lira once again fell to the ground, belly up. Elliot started beating him with several punches, without giving Lira time to reason about what was happening.
Elliot kept rational enough not to hit Lira in the face, but that didn't make it any less painful for him. When Gustav intervened, realizing that he would kill Lira, Lira crawled away from Elliot, afraid of what this madman might do next. Elliot pulled himself together and straightened his crumpled clothes.
"I apologize for my rude behavior, it has not been an easy week. I lost a person close to me and my sister lost an arm. You must understand why I got out of hand. So what is your choice?" Elliot said as he sat down once again.
Lira now understood the situation he was in. He looked at Elliot and saw only a cold, emotionless killer, he had seen many like him in the war. Margot had a resolute appearance, someone who didn't like what she was doing but would do what she thought was necessary. Gustav, on the other hand, had a serious expression, but Lira knew he was full of fear. Lira then saw a chance to survive;
"P-please! Have mercy! I am just an old man, wanting to live his life in peace. I did a favor for a friend by asking about you. I can tell you all about the Gray Militia, but let me live!
"I don't think you understand the options. Either you die without pain, or you die with pain. You have no other choice." Elliot said.
Despite doing his best to control his anger, it was still possible to see Elliot drumming his finger on his leg faster and faster. Lira looked with the corner of her eyes at Gustav, and when she noticed that he was falling into her clutches, he continued. Lira told how he fought bravely on the battlefront of the great war against the androids. Of how he was badly injured and had to be sent home.
His acting was so good that even Margot was being fooled, but to Elliot, it was like watching a pig trying to talk, it was ridiculous and ugly to watch. A vein popped out in Elliot's neck, and he thought that if he continued to hold back his anger, the level of the damned Mental Corruption skill would increase once again. Elliot picked up the knife he had brought with him. The knife had been in his suit pocket until this moment.
He with a simple movement and without any warning plunged the knife into Lira's thigh. The knife made a mesmerizing movement and landed on Lira's thigh without any resistance.
Puchi
"AAAARGH!" Lira screamed at the top of her lungs.
It took Gustav and Margot a moment to understand what had happened, and when they did, they looked at Elliot a little resentfully. Margot had lived through the hell of the war against the androids, and saw in Lira a fellow survivor. Gustav was a kind person at his core, and to see an unarmed man attacked without warning hurt everything he believed in.
Elliot attacked in his anger and forgot that as a leader, he was supposed to be sensible. It irritated Elliot to have to show the obvious to two adult people, but he still did it. Standing up and imitating actors he saw in theaters, he struck a dramatic pose and began to tell his story, while Lira still whimpered and squeezed the wound on his leg, not daring to remove the knife.
"My father told me a story one day. 38 years ago, in a small country on the continent of Eternal Snow, a community of giants raged against humans. As you know, giants are much bigger than us, stronger, faster, and tougher. Margot must be aware of this, after all, the giants were one of the important factors in the humans not being destroyed in the war against the androids."
Gustav looked at Margot, and she nodded. The giants had strength equivalent to the androids, and when the fighting became bodily, they were responsible for the most android casualties and the ones who came out of that fight the most alive. Lira felt like cursing this nonsensical story, but that would ruin his efforts to live, so he just kept whining and looking for a way to live.
"It's not news to anyone that centuries ago giants were declared human, and racial segregation decreased considerably. But most humans never considered giants as equals, and in this country, it was worse. In the revolt of the giants, the local army fought bravely and was victorious. Some men and women were considered heroes, and were awarded medals and honors."
At that moment, Elliot's posture changed and he took the posture of a weak and helpless person. Although his facial expression did not change, his voice became pity-worthy.
"But you see. Years passed, and the so-called heroes of the uprising abused their status as heroes, stealing, usurping other people's good, and even forcing people to do what they didn't want to do. When asked why they did this, they always said: we can! We saved you from the giants, that's just the price to pay for your life! The government could no longer tolerate such an act, and by the end of the year, all the so-called heroes disappeared and were never seen again." Elliot finished his story.
Gustav and Margot looked at Elliot in confusion, not understanding the moral of the story. Looking with the corner of their eyes at the two of them. Lira felt jubilant, as his chances of surviving without having to touch a gun increased tremendously. He still asked, while his poor war hero performance was better than ever.
"W-what is the moral of the story?"
"The moral is simple: heroes are those who didn't live long enough to become villains. Great heroes really did emerge during the great war, but they all died, and none were left. The only people who made it out of that place alive are those who did what they were ordered to do. Take a good look. If I went to that war and made a name for myself, I would be considered a hero. But it wouldn't change the fact that years after that, I would come to your house and torture you to death. Did the war change me, or was I always a villain, but the population considered me a hero?"
It was confusing to understand Elliot's line of thought, but his message had been delivered. Margot remembered what it took to come home alive, she was not a hero or a warrior of justice, but a survivor. And if she wanted to continue living, she still had to be a survivor.
Gustav understood that it is better to be a living villain than a dead hero. When younger, he saw in the news about remarkable men and women who emerged in the great war, all of whom today are dead. If he wants to remain a pillar to his mother and a helping hand to his sister, he will have to learn to live in the rot that is the real world. Both now had resolute eyes, and seeing this look in both of them, Elliot nodded to himself in satisfaction. If he could, Elliot would not want those close to him to be tainted by the sins that dwell in this world, but he knew that he could not do it all alone, he would need help.
Turning to Lira, for the first time, Elliot's expression changed. His eyes looked like the eyes of a madman, and a sadistic smile appeared on his face.
"You two, out, don't come in until I tell you to. Don't let anyone in or out of this mansion. Anyone who comes near...you know what to do." Elliot said as he approached Lira.
Seeing that things were going in a direction he didn't want, Lira tried to argue, to plead for his life, but no one heard his cries. He kept crawling backward, and Elliot kept slowly approaching. When the door closed behind Margot and Gustav who were now out of the room, cries of pure pain and agony were heard. Although unpleasant, they both knew they would have to get used to it.
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